This happens to me all the time when I try to dip a lady during tango lessons. All. The. Time. I don’t have a cool hood, however, seeing as how I’m not a member of one of those, what you call, secret society tango studios.
The Witches’ Sabbath
Stephen Bagby
Arthur Machen – Wilford Allen – Frank B. Long, Jr.
darkinthedark does not claim copyright on these images. If you are the copyright holder and object to their presence here, please contact me and I will remove them.What a treasure I have for you today. Today’s vintage photo album is the entire contents of one book, which unfortunately will set you back 1500 clams.
This is really quite lovely. It starts out a little in left field, then moves over to “kind of weird” and then weaves in and out of strange before taking a hard left at Albuquerque and BAM. I always love to see folk interpretations of onagonical monsters by people who are obviously working from grimore descriptions. It looks like three distinct entities, but obviously it is not. This is a particularly good one, don’t you think? 19th Century.
See more Vintage Photos here on Dark in the Dark.
Check this space for more weird photos on eBay.
Sometimes a monster reads something really amazing, and thinks to themselves, “Wow! I’m so cool that I read this. I’m going to tell all my friends and they’re going to think that I’m always up on the cool new thing.” Then you discover that it was written a couple of years ago, and you end up having to admit that that you’re not that cool. Of course, we should talk about You. Yes, you. You are cool. Admit it. We all know you’re cool. So get over yourself.
Meanwhile, in the same world as you, there is this book Anno Dracula by Kim Newman, which is really amazing. Originally published in 1992 and recently re-issued by Titan Books (who sent me a copy, thank you Titan Books), led to a whole series of sequels following Dracula and some people who are definitely not his friends through the end of the 19th Century and well into the 20th. Here’s where I pull out my world famous vampire classification system:
Ah! I love classifying vampires. The one that really counts – the erotic neck biting? As Woody Allen famously said about sex, you’re only doing it right if it makes you feel dirty. And Anno Dracula gleefully grants all of Victorian England a seamy underbelly of dirty vampire blood swapping. There is also a fascinating extra wrinkle where the older a vampire gets, the stronger, faster, and harder to kill they are. Older vampires are called Elders and they tend to be about the only thing that worries younger vampires.
The set-up is an alternate take on a fictional event. Being: Starting with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, what if the Count hadn’t been defeated? What if, after turning and losing Lucy, Dracula survived and moved on to bigger and better things, eventually seducing Queen Victoria herself? What if, after taking over England in such a manner, vampires were able to go… uh… mainstream? I’m doing a terrible job of making this sound as cool as it is. Newman (who incidentally is a Mr. Newman, not a Ms.) takes this general premise, adds a hunt for Jack the Ripper, and even mixes in dense political intrigue.
Creepy Factor: 4 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 4 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 5 out of 5
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 3 out of 5
Final result: It may be the best book I’ve read so far this year. Anno Dracula has it all. An interesting plot, social relevance, intriguing characters, suspense, mystery, hair-raising horribleness, breathtaking violent vampire fights, and loads of erotic vampirism. I loved it! Coincidentally, Kim Newman has a new novel, Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles, coming out in September.
P.S. The new Titan edition has over 100 pages of added material, including annotations, an afterword, alternate plot threads, and more.
Anno Dracula by Kim Newman – 1992 – This edition by Titan Books
Buy Anno Dracula now on Amazon
A LONG
HORROR NOVEL
THE DEATH DOLLS
by RUSSELL GRAY
TWO SPINE-TINGLING
NOVELETTES
A BEAST IS BORN
by W. WAYNE ROBBINS
***
LURE OF THE
MOON MAIDENS
by FRANCIS JAMES
darkinthedark does not claim copyright on these images. If you are the copyright
holder and object to their presence here, please contact me and I will remove them.
The name of the book is actually 12 Must Die, and it’s the first installment of three 1935 pulp novels written by Harold Ward under the pseudonym of “Zorro”. (This cover is from the 1966 Corinth reprint.) Besides having a name that is 1/3 WASP, 1/3 Yale graduate, and 1/3 yellow peril, Dr. Rance Mandarin, (a.k.a. Doctor Death), is a brilliant scientist and master of the occult who has one mission: To drive mankind back to the stone age. He sees this mission as having been given to him by God. His declared enemies are science and industry. His minions in this battle are many: communists, zombies, death rays, mesmerism, demons, and djinn (who in this book are called air elementals). Doctor Death can also spout lightning from his fingers, which is good for killing people.
Not only is Dr. Mandarin good at killing people, he’s also really awesome at turning the dead into automatons. To be honest, if I was that skilled at the black arts, I would probably build an underground empire and live in the lap of luxury. But with great power comes great responsibility, and Doctor Death does have his mission to think about. Unfortunately for Doctor Death, he’s about to make some powerful enemies. Police inspector Jimmy Holm, and Detective Inspector John Ricks are tasked with tracking down Doctor Death after he becomes Public Enemy Number One. Holm also happens to be an expert in the occult, although we never really see him do anything interesting. Strangely, they are aided by Doctor Death’s mysterious and sexy assistant, Nina Fererra, who foolishly falls in love with the wholesome and admittedly boring Jimmy Holm.
The book opens with Doctor Death beginning to work through a hit list of the world’s foremost scientists and men of industry. After killing a few in spectacular fashion, Doctor Death informs Holm and Ricks of his plans and demands that the world give up civilization and go back to living like hunter-gatherers, or something. Besides this whole mission from God thing, Doctor Death also frequently spouts fundamentalist dogma about how mankind has lost its way.
Some Notes:
Some bad things:
Some good things:
Original pulp covers from February to April 1935 – the entire run.
Doctor Death February 1935
Doctor Death March 1935
Doctor Death April 1935
Creepy Factor: 2 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 2 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 1 out of 5
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 3 out of 5
Fans of pulp fiction will probably appreciate the series. The good guys are giving orders to The President. The bad guys are commies. The one woman in the story is mystical. The work of a true evil genius is never truly over (boy can I relate to that statement). I do have to say, though, that this book is a product of its time and thus might wear on the patience of today’s reader. SO, if you loved Bela Lugosi in the 1940 movie The Devil Bat, then you will probably get a kick out of 12 Must Die.
12 Must Die! – Zorro – 1935
12 Must Die on Amazon
And as a reprint in 2 volumes:
Doctor Death Vs. The Secret Twelve, Volume 1
Doctor Death Vs. The Secret Twelve, Volume 2
Fhtagn Spoken Here.
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